Five Little Things for Your Monday: April 10, 2017

5 minute read

Happy Monday, all! This week’s Five Little Things touches on classic website design mistakes that you should avoid, hacks for effective social media marketing, and lots of other interesting pieces. Enjoy!

If you can relate to any of these WEBSITE DON’Ts, Kirk Lowe hopes that they inspire you to reflect on why you have a website and what you hope it will accomplish for your practice. Follow these 12 tips to help ensure that your websites gives prospective clients a strong first impression. Want a few examples of effective, attractive websites that follow these guidelines? Check out The Best Financial Advisor Websites: Spring 2017 Edition.

“Personal branding is one of the most important skills that every professional must master at some point in their career,” marketing speaker Seth Price says on his website. “It’s the culmination of many different skills.” He’s right: At the end of the day, your personal brand is the only thing you truly have. It’s your reputation online; and, in the business world, your personal brand drives your game. It has to reflect the fact that you are transparent, forward-thinking and willing to put everything out there to achieve success.

However, some things may not go as planned, and the consequences could have a lasting impact on your business or career. Case in point: 53 percent of decision-makers said in one survey that they had eliminated vendors from consideration based on information they found online. Here are seven warning signs that your personal brand, too, might be in trouble.

In recent years, social media marketing has quickly become one of the most powerful strategies to attract traffic, engage audiences, and drive sales. According to Social Media Examiner, 92% of marketers say they have increased exposure through social media, and 80% see positive results for traffic. That said, an effective social media marketing strategy needs to have some key elements if you really want to scale and make the most of it. Here are seven important hacks to keep in mind.

Businesses often spend a lot of time talking about what they offer, their product or service, but they seldom take the time to consider how their customers interact with or perceive their message. Additionally, businesses rarely understand the importance of clearly asking their customers to do something through a CTA.

Effective marketing should always contain a call to action that outlines the next steps in the customer journey. Here are four steps businesses should adopt, which can help them drive the best results. Still not sure what’s wrong with your CTA? This should help: 5 Reasons Why Your Call To Action Isn’t Working.